So this might be kinda like a poll but I have know idea on how to set that up and today I dont really have the time. Otta everone here,, Who are running rim locks... front or back??? Just to give me an idea.. I'm leaning toward the higher pressure on the front tire.However, I still like to explore all options.

 

I dont have any rim locks, i dont air my tires down either.... No flats yet...

 

Dirtsurfer, that helps alot. Thanks.

I just went at lunch and bought a rim lock for the back (2.15) and the front (1.60).My plan is to do my tire swap tonight and take both wheels in for balancing tomorrow. My Kawa dealer was going to charge me $17 for the balancing (I am assuming that was both wheels). The KTM dealer down the street from him(where I got my rim locks BTW),is only going to charge me $5 per.

I had just about decided to forego the rim locks and just run full pressure, but I want to learn about the locks anyway, so I might as well start now.

Thanks for all the help folks.

 

The short-term solution if you don't have time to install/balance rim locks is to keep your tire pressure up and let the tire pressue hold the tire in place. (Backing off the valve stem nut isn't a bad idea, either ... if there is any slipping, this would indicate it before the valve stem gets ripped out.)

When you have more time:

Installing a pair of rim locks is something that you can do on your own, but it involves drilling a second hole in each rim opposite the one that's already there. I recently saw a page that showed a pretty good "How To", and it didn't look hard at all.(I'll update this post if I can find it again.)

I don't think getting your wheel balanced after installing a single rim lock is something you can do on your own - special equipment is needed, but I've never seen it, so I don't know.

FWIW - I'm planning on installing rim locks front and back. I found a 1.85" rim lock for the back, but couldn;t find a 1.65" one for the front. (I'm not sure where I got those numbers, but anyway ... ). I haven't yet decided if I'll do 1 and have it balanced, or drill another hole and have 2 installed. Time will tell!

There's my 2 minute comment.

Mike

 

Ok this is my setup (before I got the road wheels) for my usage 90% on road 10% off road
originally I had no trouble at all with flats, it was only in a quest for better grip that I lowered the pressure in the rear. I got a flat (btw for those that don't know you can use a 21" tube in the rear 18" as a temporary measure) I bought a rim lock and installed it, got another flat. A mate of mine who I was riding with told me to leave the valve nut loose. I also bought a h/d tube after the second flat. No more flats, on both occasions I had a flat the valve stem was ripped outta the tube. Since then I have the Kenda K772 on the back which I didn't need to drop the pressure and haven't had a problem since. I also found with the rim lock in once I hit about 50 mph the unbalanced wheel was annoying so I had it balanced when I had the K772 fitted.

I'll sumise the order of which things happened
Stock tyres and tubes
Lowered pressures to get more grip [8D]
Got a flat [:@]
Replaced it with 21" to get home []
New tube and rim lock fitted
Lowered pressures to get more grip
Got a flat [:'(]
Replaced it with 21" to get home [:-]
Tube nut left loose (sits under the cap now) [8D]
H/D tube fitted [&:]
New tyre fitted
Wheel Balanced
Purchased road wheels [8D]
No need for balancing as road wheels don't need rim locks

Hmm so for me the lessons learnt are
I never had a problem with the front, in fact the tyre hasn't been off the rim still running the 603.
Don't run low pressures unless a) you have a rim lock. b) You leave the valve nut loose
If you are trail riding you will need a better tyres than the stock 603's
In my opinion you don't need 2 rim locks per wheel unless you simply want to balance the wheels without using wheels weights, however I believe tyre changing is a pain with 2 in. Oh yeah and you need to drill another hole in your rim.

Balancing your wheel by yourself isn't difficult at all. Put your axle back in the wheel get something to support the ends of the axle and let the wheel find its own heavy point (will be at the bottom when the wheel stops rotating) then add weights and spin the wheel, repeat until the wheel stops no-where in particular. Of course its a hell of a lot quicker to take it to the bike shop. They charged me $5 to balance my wheel (prob used $10 in wheel weights [8D]) when I bought the new tyre and had it fitted at the shop.

Hope this helps, it's by far the most bloody typing I have done for a long time lol